Chapter Text
(Oh No) Not Again!
Early-December 2022
Samantha Arias was in her office in L-Corp.
Things weren't looking good for the Kiernan case, as it seemed more and more likely that Lena could get the company – she was the true bloodline of the Luthors, after all, and, according to the wills of Lionel, Lillian and Lex, the company would go to the Luthor heirs, no matter who. Sam was just the government-appointed CEO, after all; she was replaceable.
She had put so much into this company, though, that it was difficult for Sam to admit the truth, but befriending Lena, quite unexpectedly, had helped put some concerns at bay. Besides, maybe Lena would choose to keep her on. It would be a step down from CEO, but Lena would be new to being a CEO and would need help. She could use a second in command who could lead her in the right direction.
Currently, Sam was looking over the day-to-day paperwork of the company, seeing where they could cut back and what they could also build upon, when an unfamiliar voice broke the silence of the office.
"This is her?" Sam looked up to see a dark woman with curly hair and a familiar pale woman with dark hair standing by the window, looking to her.
"What…"? Sam asked, quickly standing. "How did you get in here? Wait… Nicky?" She recognized the pale woman from a few weeks ago at the bar meal she'd had with Alex. The woman with a sad story who had seemed odd for reasons Sam couldn't put her finger on.
"Yeah, that's me," the woman, Nicky, smirked at Sam.
"Please go before I call security," Sam stated, sternly, not sure how either woman had even got into the office to begin with.
"I'm afraid that won't be happening…" Nicky stated, walking up to Sam's desk that the woman was still leaning on.
"I can force you out," Sam stated, sternly, ready to call security.
"I'm sure you can," Nicky smirked. "But my friend, Astra Logue, here needs you first…"
"Needs me?" Sam asked, now walking around the desk.
"Ms. Logue?" Nicky smirked to her darker friend, who nodded and moved forward.
Before Sam could react, Astra Logue had put her hand on Sam and Nicky and all three vanished from the office in a flash of fire.
-SuperEarth-
Kara, Barry and Lara the dog were in the Central side of Central-National and in the middle of a large fight with a meta human.
Since Astra Logue had inexplicably escaped the DEO the other week, the place had gone into lockdown, but not before one other prisoner seemed to have escaped without means – this one was a fire meta, going by El Diablo. Kara had fought him before, some years ago.
"Are you sure you don't need League or DEO help?" Alex was asking Kara and Barry through coms as Kara used her freeze breath to counter one of the jets of fire from the meta, while Barry used arm tornados to quell the other jet of fire.
"It's just one meta," Barry responded. "Besides, Kara and Lara stopped him before, together we can stop him."
"Even though I had James Olsen trying to prove himself as that stupid Guardian vigilante," Kara remarked, this event better best forgotten given it had lead to James' death.
"Well, say the word if you need it," Alex stated in coms, as Kara now used her laser vision on the fire meta, knocking him back.
"I guess I'll just keep the public at bay, then," a new voice spoke, and Barry and Kara were momentarily distracted as Ray Palmer, in his ATOM suit, flew into the scene. "I have the anti-meta cuffs if you need them," he added, having the power-blocking cuffs the DEO had since made to temporarily block meta powers; it was similar to ones use in the multiverse but had to be adjusted to take into consideration that their metas had been made with magic and not by Dark Matter, or other ways people mutated in the multiverse.
"Okay, thank you. Just keep the public safe ATOM, help Super Dog – but we've got this," Kara stated through coms as she used her laser vision again, locking the fire meta back further. ATOM agreed, joining Lara in keeping the public back from the fight. The dog was happy with public control this time, too, rather than fighting.
Barry took this opportunity to rush forward, punching the fire meta to knock him further back; it seemed he was hard to knock out now, as he didn't show sign of damage as he fought back, blasting Barry back with a jet of fire. Barry's leg caught fire for a moment, but Barry was able to shake it off.
"We will get this guy down," Kara groaned as she re-joined the fight; she and Barry telepathically going over a new plan as Barry ran back, so Kara could take over the battle. Her Kryptonian invincibility handling fire better than his speedster suit.
Now, Barry ran around the fighting pair, quicker and quicker, creating a tornado of sorts that kept Kara in with El Diablo while Ray and Lara the dog made sure to keep the area outside the Flash-made-tornado clear. The fire meta used his powers though, to set the tornado alight so it turned into a fire tornado, but the superheroes had prepared for this as Kara used her freeze breath on the fire tornado, turning it to ice in seconds which Barry, at speed, shattered and sent a shard directly at El Diablo.
Shocked by the move, and suddenly stabbed by a shard of ice, El Diablo stopped, taking a step back – the ice shard had penetrated his abdomen, but on quick x-ray inspection, Kara saw no major organs had been hurt. DEO doctors would be able to fix him up easily enough – it had been a risky plan, but they knew it had to work.
"Now, stay down," Barry added as he ran at the fire meta, now with the anti-meta cuffs the DEO had, which Ray had come to supply, and putting them on the man before he could gather his thoughts.
"Nice job, Supergirl, Flash," Ray remarked, landing next to the pair now as Kara and Barry rolled their eyes at each other for the comment. Lara gave a little bark. "And Super Dog," he added, going to pet the dog, but Lara moved away, much to Ray's sorrow.
"All in a day's work," Barry remarked, patting Ray on the back.
"I'll take this one back to the DEO," Kara decided, picking up El Diablo and flying him off to the former-warehouse-turned DEO facility. Lara took to the sky to follow her mistress.
"Was it something I said?" Ray asked, confused by the reaction.
"No, you're good, ATOM. Supergirl and Super Dog take time to warm to new people. Thank you for the assist," Barry smirked at his friend.
"No problem, Flash," Ray nodded to the hero now; ATOM currently still wasn't in the Justice League, and so he didn't know the real identities of anyone in said League, and thus didn't know that one of his best friends – Barry himself – was the leader of the League. It amused Barry that he could play with his friend a little with the secret identity.
"Time to clean up and check on the public," Barry told his friend, who nodded as he followed the Flash.
-SuperEarth-
Caitlin was in her first week of the job as the Allen nanny, and with it nearly Christmas, she had decided it was a good bonding exercise to help decorate the Christmas tree; of course, Kara, Barry and the kids had already decorated most of the house – making it extra special for everyone's first Christmas under the same roof – but there were a few things she knew she had to do.
Having discussed it with Kara and Barry beforehand, Caitlin now had a few photos of Zari and Adri's parents, which the girls were going to choose to go through, to hang on the tree. The twins, meanwhile, were content playing with mini fabric Christmas trees made for babies, which were safe for the babies to handle. They were gurgling and laughing with each other, happy in their own company.
She was just about to call the children downstairs when the doorbell rang; Caitlin paused at this, heading to the door instead.
Opening it, a young pale woman with dark hair and blue eyes stood in the doorway. She was dressed casually in a dark blue shirt and jeans.
"Erm, hello?" Caitlin asked.
"Hi. I'm here for Zari and Adri?" The girl stated. "I'm Nora. Nora Ford."
"Oh," Caitlin smiled at this – she remembered as part of her discussion with Barry and Zari that an orphaned girl was mentoring the young girls in their own loss and that her name was Nora – so this must have been her. "Come in," Caitlin stated, standing back.
Nora moved over the threshold, seemingly knowing the house well as she moved into the living area, Caitlin following.
"So, you're the new nanny?" Nora asked when Caitlin followed.
"Yeah, it's an interesting new job for me – especially so near Christmas," Caitlin indicated the tree, being friendly with the young girl.
"Do you have kids of your own?" Nora asked, not unkindly.
"Yes, a five-year-old and a seven-year-old, their schools aren't on teacher-in-service day, so they're in school," Caitlin explained; having children now in school did make it easier for her to do this nannying job, after all.
"Ah, good," Nora didn't seem to know what to say until her eyes caught the pictures on the coffee table. "Oh, I like this… Zari and Adri's parents," Nora smiled at the pictures. "Making them as ornaments for the tree? Very therapeutic."
"It was mine and Barry Allen's idea," Caitlin stated, not sure what to make of the girl. "So, urm, how did you come to be the girls' mentor?"
"I suppose it started when I was younger and my mom was murdered," Nora mused, causing Caitlin to pause at this. "My birth parents were the Darkhs and my dad, Damien Darkh, had this idea… it didn't work out and the Green Arrow in Starling inadvertently killed my mom because of it," Nora explained, looking over the babies in their crib by the window. Lara was out with Kara and Barry, so the dog wasn't around to overlook the twins.
"I remember something about a Damien Darkh in Starling City. He, urm, wasn't a nice guy," Caitlin didn't quite meet Nora's eye at this.
"Oh, he wasn't nice at all," Nora stated simply, with a shrug. "My dad dabbled in magic – this was before Enchantress – and it's what got him killed. Because of him, I ended up in a cult after his death, but I was rescued, ended up in the foster system before I was taken in by my current adoptive parents, the Fords."
"That's still an insane story," Caitlin stated, feeling very sorry for the girl. "How old are you, if you don't mine me asking?"
"Eighteen," Nora explained, causing Caitlin to pause again as Nora took a seat on the couch.
"All that trauma, and you're only just eighteen… how did you cope with it all?" Caitlin asked, sitting next to Nora now.
"A lot of counselling in the past few years – it was actually the suggestion of my counsellor to go and help others," Nora explained. "My adopted parents supported it, and because Zari and Adri's parents were working for STAR Labs and the DEO, it was that government connection that led me to the girls. Their parents died so suddenly and so horribly – not even the Flash and Supergirl could save them in time – that I knew my own special skills would help."
"Well, I'm really glad you're here for the girls – and that you've survived your trauma," Caitlin moved to hug the girl, who didn't resist just as footsteps were heard on the stairs.
"Nora, I thought it was you," Zari had appeared. "Adri's just finishing up her show."
"Which show?" Caitlin and Nora asked together, the younger smiling at their syncing.
"Urm, Fairly Odd Parents, I think…" Zari shrugged; she didn't pay too much attention with her little sister in Kara and Barry's room, watching their TV.
"Oh, nice show," Nora stated, standing up at this.
"Can I offer you something, Nora? Food, drink?" Caitlin now asked, standing.
"Oh, I'll go and grab myself a water," Nora smiled now, standing herself and moving into the back room towards the kitchen, past the desk that the final two Totems of Zambezi were hidden in.
"She seems nice," Caitlin told Zari now, moving over to check on the babies.
"She's been really helpful," Zari stated. "She lost her parents young so it's helping me and Adri."
"Did she… tell you how she lost them?" Caitlin asked, wondering if Nora's backstory was appropriate for the young girl, despite being of similar age when she went through it all.
"Not in great detail," Zari began, "she just… urm, Nora?" Caitlin looked up from the babies to see Zari was looking toward the backroom; Nora hadn't made it to the kitchen, she was standing over the desk, seeming frozen on the spot.
"You don't think…?" Caitlin asked Zari, knowing what was in the desk, as she quickly put the baby she was holding down to move over to the frozen Nora.
"Didn't you faint though?" Zari asked, following Caitlin, who waved a hand in front of Nora. Both had an idea of what was going on as they knew what was inside the desk.
"Maybe not everyone does," Caitlin suggested now putting a hand on Nora's shoulder to shake her just a little.
"Urm… what?" Nora said and seemed to react to the movement as she looked up to Caitlin. "I'm… I don't…?"
"Is something calling to you?" Zari asked the girl.
"Calling? What…?" Nora shook herself. "I'm sorry I don't know what just happened."
"I think we do," Caitlin smirked as she turned to Zari. "Should we show her without Kara and Barry here?" Caitlin remembered the two had waited until Caitlin had come back to give her to Totem and talk to her.
"I don't see why we can't show her," Zari said now as she opened the desk draw, the last two ornate boxes holding the Totems of Zambezi presenting themselves to the teenager.
"Which one calls to you?" Zari asked, taking them out and putting them on the desk. Zari wondered if it was the Fire Totem or Water Totem who had chosen their bearer.
"Urm, this one…" Nora stated, pointing to the box with the orange swirls.
"The Fire Totem," Zari mused, knowing the boxes now as Caitlin opened it and Zari took the box with the Water Totem and put it away.
Inside the box was a circular red gem surrounded by a halo of silver metal; it was glowing and vibrating slightly and, as if on instinct, Nora reached out to take the item, placing it on her neck via the chain it was connected to. The gem glowed for a moment, a faint whisp of fire coming from it, surprising Caitlin and Nora.
Nora blinked, shaking herself off a little as she looked at the two other females with her.
"What just happened?" Nora asked, putting her fingers on the gem of the Totem.
"You just got accepted to a very exclusive club," Zari stated, a little dramatically, but smiling now.
"You were chosen by one of the Totems of Zambezi," Caitlin explained for the young girl's dramatics.
"A Totem of what?" Nora asked, frowning at this and Caitlin sighed. This might have been why they should have waited for Kara and Barry, as the two would have been better at explaining this.
-SuperEarth-
At the DEO, Alex was concerned – not only had there been a major breach in security, but on a personal note, she couldn't get through to her friend, Sam. She had called, left several messages, and even texted several times. She was starting to wonder if she was coming off as a stalker, but Sam always texted back, even if it was to say she was too busy.
"Ma'am," Agent Vasquez appeared at Alex's office door – this obviously wasn't her STAR Labs office, but it was a nice space regardless, and was slightly bigger than her office in STAR Labs. She did miss the dent in her desk that she had put a flower in from when Kara had punched it. Alex had been debating with herself, asking Kara to punch this desk so she could do the same thing to it.
"What is it, Vasquez?" Alex asked, putting her phone down, the third time the call had rang and then gone to voicemail in the past few hours.
"We may have a lead on how Astra Logue and Chato Santana escaped," Agent Vasquez explained, holding the tablet device, turning it so her boss could see the security footage.
"We already saw the footage," Alex dismissed. "It wasn't helpful…"
"Well, we ran it through the spectrum associated with Enchantress – back when we had her on lock down and had to keep eyes on her and on all known magical spectrums," Vasquez explained.
"Please don't tell me Enchantress is back," Alex paused at this, dread filling her, given Enchantress had been their biggest foil to date and they hadn't killed her, having had sent her to what John Constantine had called Gem World, but what they knew now was a part of the Sphere of the Gods; the sibling of the Speed Force and the place where magic came from.
"No, but the magical spectrum really helped with this…" Vasquez shows the footage, which previously had shown nothing out of the ordinary, only now it showed an unknown female security guard outside of Astra Logue's cell. She looked vaguely familiar to Alex, but Alex couldn't put her finger on where she knew this person from.
"She's not on our paycheck," Alex frowned, watching the footage as the woman vanished in a portal of fire – Astra Logue's means of transport – which Chato Santana must have locked onto, using the fire to escape his own cell. "She must have taken down the magical lockdown that Raven put on Astra Logue's cell to allow them escape."
"Well, we don't know who she is," Vasquez stated. "Facial recognition came up with nothing. No identity, no alibi…"
"Not good," Alex frowned, trying to place where she'd seen the face before.
"There's more…" Vasquez stated, causing Alex to pause at this.
"Go on," Alex stated as Vasquez turned the tablet around to change the video to something else, she turned it back to Alex to show a local newsfeed – from Blue Valley. Alex almost had to sigh, seeing the name as a momentarily flashback to the school tour she did which had been a pain in the neck.
"'Local hero saves Blue Valley High'?" Alex quoted the newsfeed that currently was showing the school. She read it in a very bored voice. "So? There are heroes all over the world these days," Alex told her best agent. It was true – with the Justice League a thing now, more and more metas were trying to become heroes of their levels; some doing okay while others clearly need to be told to back down. "And if the hero saved the school, clearly we don't need to intervene to protect the public."
"Just wait," Vasquez sighed as the footage changed to show video obviously taken from a cell phone – it showed a young girl with blonde hair in a blue outfit using a very familiar glowing staff to blast something just off-camera.
"The Cosmic Staff!" Alex exclaimed, her left hand almost instinctively moving to her pocket where the Black Diamond was. She kept it with her close every day; she didn't know why, she just felt like it needed to be on her person – although she didn't know why the records said the gem contained evil, as she hadn't exactly felt anything evil from it, just… an unusual attachment.
"The day the Cosmic Staff went missing from our inventory was the same day that tour group from Blue Valley High was here," Agent Vasquez explained. "So, it's reason to believe that this girl took the Staff."
Alex let go of the Black Diamond in her pocket at this, freeing her hand as she took the tablet to look at the footage once more. "Why is it working for her?" Alex asked instantly.
"Not a clue," Vasquez said. "From all reports we know, the Staff has been dormant since it's last owner died. A hero during World War Two who went by the codename Stargirl. She worked with a special team of similar heroes for the government to take down the Nazis. It's why the Staff ended up in government possession after her death. We have put in a request to learn the real name of Stargirl, but you know the government can take forever."
"I'll see about rushing that request, but we're going to need to run scans from this footage to compare to what students were in STAR Labs the day the staff went missing," Alex instructed, in full DEO-leader mode now. "Once we know who she is, it'll be time for me to take my own field trip…"
"Already on it, boss," Vasquez smirked.
"Perfect," Alex nodded. "In that case, you're dismissed, Vasquez."
Agent Vasquez saluted, knowing this was it for their meeting and was just about to leave the room when she paused. "Urm, boss – Alex – is everything alright?"
"What do you mean?" Alex asked, frowning at the other woman.
"You were concerned when I came in, and on the phone… if there's anything I, or the other agents can do to help, then you know we'd bend over backward for you," Vasquez stated.
"No, it's fine. Just my friend isn't answering her phone…" Alex shrugged.
"Try calling L-Corp," Vasquez smirked at this. "Maybe you can get through to Ms. Arias on their switchboard…"
"How did you know I was on about Samantha Arias?" Alex frowned now.
"Well… you don't exactly have any other friends outside of your family," Vasquez went red at this.
"Dismissed, Agent," Alex repeated now, but smirked slightly at the agent, who nodded and left the office. It wasn't bad advice though, as Alex decided to call up L-Corp itself to get through to Sam this time.
-SuperEarth-
Barry, Kara, and Lara the dog arrived back at the house; it had been agreed that Caitlin would stay until 6pm on weekdays, but with both girls' schools having a late teacher-in-service days, it meant that Zari and Adri had stayed at home, so Caitlin was allowed to leave earlier. It had helped that Nora Ford had been due to come over to check up on Zari and Adri, of course and Nora had agreed to watch the twins to let Caitlin out a little earlier.
"Guess what?" Zari excitedly said as they entered the house, not even giving them a 'hello'. Her excitement startled the two. "Nora is a Totem Bearer!"
"Wait–" Bary started.
"What?" Kara finished for her husband.
"The Fire Totem choose her," Zari said with a huge smile on her face. "It's exciting Nora is in the Totem Bearer Club. Caitlin explained a bit to her, but I think you two will need to go more into it."
"Urm, yes," Barry said, blinking. "Where is she?"
"She went home after she was chosen. Caitlin stayed until she saw you two came," Zari explained; the two hadn't seen Caitlin leave but they knew Caitlin had somewhere to be today anyway which was why Nora coming had been good.
"Thanks," Barry said, and Zari left the room then to go to her sister. "Well, that's something," he turned to Kara at this.
"We'll have to figure out how to tell her who we are too," Kara now mused, the pair moving into the living room.
"Well, that's it, I'm storing the Water Totem over at STAR Labs now," Barry stated as he moved to the back area and took the box out of the draw and opened it, to look at the blue gem within with a sigh.
"Good idea," Kara stated, heading into kitchen, going to start dinner. Barry followed. "Although you know we need to find the Water Totem Bearer for this oncoming darkness or whatever Amaya said it was. She left them with us because she said we had the best shot had finding them apparently."
"True, but two of the Totem Bearers have been found in this house, maybe it's best to find one outside the place," Barry mused. With Kara starting dinner, Barry moved over to the twins, now going over to pick up one of the babies while Lara licked the other, hovering over the cot, much to his amusement. "Do you need changing?" he asked the baby, who giggled.
"No, although I think a bowel movement is imminent," Kara must have started something at super-speed as she'd returned to the living area already and used her x-ray vision to check the baby's diapers. "Little Aidey is a good boy, aren't you?" She added to the baby in Barry's arms while she went to pick up Avery, who Lara licked as she was removed from the cot.
"Caitlin must have changed the diapers before she left anyway," Barry mused, with Aiden in his arms.
"The Fire Totem's new owner is an older teenage girl with a dark history and connection to magic," Kara suddenly said, Barry turning to look at her, frowning. "It's what Amaya said about it, right?"
"Oh yeah. We thought it was Raven," Barry agreed. "But Nora Ford… well, her past, her dad had magic and it's why Olly took him down as the Green Arrow," with Oliver Queen as part of the League, of course they knew what happened in Starling City's history.
"Didn't he critically injure Laurel too, Damien Darkh?" Kara paused.
"Yeah, but she recovered, obviously," Barry paused at that – Laurel was Black Canary in Starling City and in the Justice League. The injury meant she couldn't have children, though, but the last he knew they were using a surrogate to have a child, anyway.
"It kind of makes sense though, Nora getting the Fire Totem, given she was born Nora Darkh," Kara now reasoned of Nora, moving Barry's thoughts back to the girl and the Totem.
"How so?" Barry asked, wondering if this was a multiverse thing, as Kara knew more of the multiverse then he did, being the Paragon of Courage.
"She's a well-known magic user on other worlds, what with her history with her dad, Damien, and magic in general," Kara stated. "Her New Justice alternative was the one who Constantine gave part of the Loom to, also."
"Oh yeah," Barry hadn't put the two-and-two together at this, but now he thought about it, the teenager on this world and the adult on New Justice were the same person.
"Plus, on Karry Universe she's a fire meta, too," Kara added.
"Hmm. What is it with our world having younger versions of others?" Barry reasoned at this reveal. "Zari herself and now Nora…"
"To be fair their adult selves being in the present of other worlds is mainly due to various methods of time travel – and both Karry and Beautiful have the teenage versions too," Kara pointed out, but stopped as she noticed someone by the lounge door.
"Dadda Barry," it was Adri who appeared in the doorway at this, distracting the couple as Barry turned to the girl.
"Everything okay, Zari?" Barry asked, concerned.
"I'm fine," she smiled, "I just wanted to say thank you."
"What for?" Barry asked, sharing a look with Kara now.
"Caitlin said the idea to use our parents for Christmas ornaments was yours," Adri stated, Barry quickly glancing to the pictures of the adults on the tree. He hadn't really paid attention until now. "I wanted to thank you for that."
"It's no problem, sweetie," Barry stated, moving over to kiss the girl. "You may be ours, but you were theirs first – forever and always."
With that, Zari ran off, back upstairs to join her sister; Barry and Kara were actually thinking of temporarily converting one of the smaller rooms up there into a living area for the girls, as they seemed to like being upstairs more than down here. Maybe it was a coping mechanism after everything they'd been though.
"That was sweet," Kara stated, a little tearful at that now, just as her cell went off.
"It was actually suggested to me by my Prime double," Barry mused. "It was what Joe West did with him after his mom died… and what's wrong?" He noticed Kara was frowning at her phone – he was tempted to use their bond to see what she was seeing.
"That was Kandar – and Alex… Turn on the TV," Kara stated, quickly.
Barry grabbed the remote and turned it on. It was on a kids show, but Kara quickly grabbed the remote off him to change to a local news network.
"What the…?" Barry now frowned, seeing what the news was covering – on the side of one of the buildings of National-Central City, a diamond pattern, very similar to the House of El outline, had been scorched into the metalwork, but inside the symbol was what looked like a side-view of a skull with its mouth open.
"I need to go," Kara stated, putting Avery back in the crib.
"Do you need me?" Barry asked, although knowing there were no other adults in the house.
"No, stay with the kids. This looks Kryptonian," with that, Kara headed out the door, leaving Barry holding Aiden as he watched the news. This was something new, and quickly looking to Kara's phone, it was concerning – Alex didn't know much but Kandar's text seemed concerning. Lara seemed momentarily concerned that her mistress had gone without her but settled after watching Avery instead.